The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Stutzman
Our next tattooed poet is Michael Stutzman, who shares this colorful piece:Michael gives us the background of this piece:”This tattoo by Luis Martins at Lovecraft (Hamden, CT) is inspired by a Pennsylvania Dutch hex motif. Distelfinks (“thistle-finches”) and the tulips are talismans for luck, but it’s also in tribute to my paternal grandparents, who had deep Penn-Dutch roots. I go back and forth…
The Tattooed Poets Project: Martina Reisz Newberry
Our next tattooed poet is Martina Reisz Newberry, who sent us this photo:Martina “wanted something beautiful with the added blessing of Lord Buddha’s face and the lotus tabernacle.” She credited Body Electric Tattoo in Hollywood, California, with the work and adds, “I love the idea of my body being a canvas for something enchanting.”Martina sent us the following poem:LITANY (from “Learning By Rote” Deerbrook Editions, 2012)Who are they, these blurred figures Longing for a digital fix?They’ve given up peace to play at passion,they claw at a …
Evan J. Peterson’s Truth on the Tattooed Poets Project
Our next tattooed poet is Evan J. Peterson, whose tattoo resonates with the one we posted earlier today, and with the solemnity of this Day of Remembrance:Evan tells us:”This tattoo is my first and only tattoo so far. It’s Hebrew for ‘Truth.’ It’s Emet, read from wrist to elbow. This is also one version of the Kabbalah spell that brings a golem to life. Golems are Jewish…
The Tattooed Poets Project: Nick Comilla
Our next tattooed poet is Nick Comilla:Nick tells us:”I got this tattoo in August 2012 before I moved to NYC from Montreal. The idea was inspired from the Banksy piece that shows a man throwing a bouquet of flowers as if it were a Molotov cocktail. The piece, which I think of as Bouquet Bomb, was designed by Sylvie le Sylvie at Tatouage Royal. Sylvie did an amazing job of taking my concept and giving it a design… it looked a bit different in my head, but…
The Tattooed Poets Project: Erica Dawson
Our next tattooed poet is Erica Dawson, who sent along this image of her ink:Erica explains:“I got this in December 2010. When I walked into 1603 Tattoo & Piercing, Co. in Ybor City, and met Shawn Chalk, the best tattoo artist ever, I had no clue what I wanted. It ended up being perfect: we talked the whole time; and, even better, we ate chicken wings during a break.”Shawn Chalk is now working out of …
Bruce Covey’s Tiger Tattoo on The Tattooed Poets Project
I’ve been talking with Bruce Covey, our next tattooed poet, since last year, and am heppy I finally received his submission this year. Check out his tattoo:Bruce tells us:My tiger tattoo is based on a traditional Chinese paper-cut design and reflects all of the happiness I share with my amazing daughters, both of whom were both born in China. I…
The Tattooed Poets Project: K.R. Copeland
Our next tattooed poet is K.R. Copeland:She tells us,”I currently have seven tattoos. The two that best represent me, as a human, spiritual being, would be the Om on my left deltoid and the cross on my right (with the word, “Unity” …
The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Henry Lee
Michael Henry Lee is appearing on the Tattooed Poets Project for the fourth consecutive year, and it is always a pleasure to share his work.First, his tattoo:Photos by Chris BodorMichael tells us how this tattoo came to be:“Koi have long been revered by the Samurai of Japan for their; courage, virility, and immortal character. Combine that with Joshua 1:9 from the old testament (Have I not commanded you to be strong and of good courage, neither be fearful or of doubting mind, for I the …
The Tattooed Poets Project: Leslie Marie Aguilar and Her Blackbirds
Our next tattooed poet is Leslie Marie Aguilar, who sent us this photo:Photo by Clint FrazierLeslie explains:”When I was younger, my father used to play The Beatles records on repeat while he ironed his clothes on the weekends. Consequently, some of my earliest memories are punctuated with the scent of Faultless Starch and Lennon/McCartney singing …
Ending April with Sharon Mesmer’s Rose (The Tattooed Poets Project)
I met Sharon Mesmer last July at the NYC Poetry Festival on Governor’s Island. Sharon is a wonderful poet, and she seemed initially surprised that I was interested in the tattoo on her left arm:This rose on the top of her forearm, below her wrist, is an older piece but, as you would imagine, the story behind it is fascinating:”I got my tattoo because I was traveling in Europe and Asia, and wanted a tattoo on each wrist for each continent. I got…
The Tattooed Poets Project: Larry Jaffe
Our next tattooed poet is Larry Jaffe:Larry explains:”I always wanted a dagger tattoo from the time I was a kid. I went to see David Zero and was thumbing through his books and spotted this dragon being slayed by a sword and said that’s it. It was a painstaking thing as I recall, especially putting in the white on the sword. He had to go over it over and over and over and over again. It is time for me to get it touched up …
The Tattooed Poets Project: Senia Hardwick
Our next tattooed poet is Senia Hardwick:Senia explained that her “tattoo relates to a lot of similar themes and feelings to that of my work, though in and of itself it is not literary.” She adds, “I tend to write poetry that explores the transmutation of feelings and experience into landscapes and…
The Tattooed Poets Project: Sara’s Scorpio
Our next tattooed poet is Sara Tracey, who sent us this image of her ink:Sara tells us the story of how she came by this work:”Jimbo, my tattoo artist, had just gotten his license. He was a middle-aged biker who lived with his middle-aged, ex-stripper girlfriend, Peaches, in Akron, Ohio. Jimbo’s studio was set up in the corner of his basement; just a chair and a table, some ink and a gun. I…
The Tattooed Poets Project: Aaron DeLee
Our next tattooed poet is Aaron DeLee:Aaron tell us:”I spent over 99 hours and 99 minutes of my life playing Final Fantasy 7; that’s as far as the timer goes in the game. It was integral to my upbringing during adolescence (specifically, at 14), exposing me to gay characters and cross-dressing when I didn’t have much of a concept for such things. It was…
The Tattooed Poet’s Project: Alice Ladrick
Our next tattooed poet is Alice Ladrick:Alice tells us:”I got this little guy done at No Ka Oi in Philly. It was something I’d be thinking about for awhile but the actual plan was hatched just a little before I went out there. I got the crow (his name is Corbin) because crows had kinda been following me around for awhile and became a symbol of comfort for me, plus I like the multiplicity of meanings crows carry in various mythologies.”Alice also sent…
The Tattooed Poets Project: Megan Burns
Our next tattooed poet is Megan Burns, who sent us this beautiful work of body art:Not only is it a big tattoo, but it’s on the ribs, one of the more painful spots to get inked. Megan explains, “It’s a pirate ship with the names of my three kids.” …
